From the time this had all started, Sara had hardly slept. It seemed like two months since she left Jim behind at the school, but it had only been two days. She was mad at Jim for making her take Samantha and go, instead of finding a way for all of them to leave together. Now here she was stuck in the motel, waiting to hear from Jim.
By talking to Samantha, she figured out that the school teacher had been talking about the aliens. They claimed to have been around for the last twenty three thousand years. The teacher also told the kids that there was no such thing as God. That the aliens could prove that what the Bible said was just an old fable that our forefathers had created to explain what they didn’t understand.
That is what had set off the incident. Samantha had stood up and said that the teacher was lying. The teacher said that Sam was mistaken and had not been taught correctly. Samantha warned her that God would do to her just like He had done to the Pharaoh in Egypt if she didn’t quit lying. That’s when they took her to the office and called Sara and Jim.
Jim must have felt that they were going to do some real harm, or he wouldn’t have sent her away like that. They had discussed the code words on many occasions. They tried to come up with plans to cover almost any situation. For Jim to tell her “YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO” in that kind of a tone made this about as serious as things could get.
They’d even gone so far as to pay a man five thousand dollars to take their driver’s licenses and alter them to show a different name and social security number. Since Sara had not had to show I.D. at the motel she’d given them a different alias. The plan was to save the name on the driver’s license as long as she could. There was also a fake birth certificate for Samantha, so they could establish I.D. for her as she got older.
In order to make it harder to find them, Jim had one of the men that worked for him,
rent the self storage room. Then they put a suitcase for each of them, with clothes and I.D. in the storage. In addition there was camping equipment and freeze dried food in packs, along with a tent, sleeping bags, and a cook stove.
The other thing was the codes. Sara was to stay at the motel and not have any contact with people they knew. Once a day she would find a new pay phone and call the access number to the phone company voice mail. She could then dial their mail box number, give the password, and check for messages without calling their home number.
Once it got dark outside, Sara and Sam walked down the road about a mile and found a pay phone. She punched in the numbers and listened as the recording played Jim’s voice, “I love you baby, YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, goodbye”. Sara started to cry as she realized what Jim was saying. Not only did it mean that she needed to get away as fast as she could, since this was the second time that Jim had used that phrase. But by adding goodbye to the end of the message, he was telling Sara that he did not expect to see her again.
At least Jim had not used the phrase, “YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO”. That would have meant that Sara was supposed to go someplace that even Jim didn’t know about. If Jim was able to get out of the situation he would come and join her as soon as he could.
On the way back to the motel she got a paper and started looking for a car. There was a Jeep Cherokee in the classified section that was about 4 years old and sounded fairly good. After calling and making arrangements to see it that night, Sara called a cab. It was far easier to stay busy than it was to stop and think about what was going on. About every two minutes she would stop and ask the Lord to help Jim and guide her in this situation.
The people were happy to accept cash for the Jeep. They were not bothered when Sara didn’t produce any I.D. either. After the paper work was filled out that had to be mailed in by the previous owner, Sara and Sam were on their way in the new car.
Sara drove to the self storage and got everything except Jim’s suitcase and backpack. She placed twenty thousand dollars in the suitcase so Jim would have some cash if he were able to get out. Then Sara stopped and got them some dinner at a drive through. As she sat in the parking lot, Sara decided to write a letter to Michael and Jamie, explaining what had happened.
Driving toward where they had lived for the last eight years, Sara stopped at a grocery store and got some paper and envelopes as well as some food for their trip. She went back out to the Jeep and wrote the letter. Then Sara went to the pay phone and called a close friend from the church. Without explaining anything she got Martha to come over to the store right away.
When Martha arrived, Sara explained a little about what was going on and asked her to hold on to the letter for a month and then to mail it for her. It was very possible that the police would be trying to get information from Michael and Jamie, and this would help them not to have to lie. Even if they did intercept the letter by that time, it didn’t contain anything that would lead to where Sara and Sam had gone.
Martha had only been there about ten minutes when Sara insisted that she had to go. They hugged and said goodbye then Sara and Sam were on their way. They made one last stop back at the motel to get the suitcases and headed up Interstate Five. Samantha fell asleep as they passed through Bakersfield. Sara knew she would have to rest sometime. She also knew that she would just toss and turn if she tried to sleep right now.
For a girl just about to turn seven, Samantha was handling things fairly well. She trusted God like a little child. Sara wished that she too had the confidence that the Lord would make every thing work out. Right now she just hurt inside, and missed Jim very much.
Sara believed God’s word, that everything would work out for the good for those who love Him, but she had grown very reliant on the partnership and love that had developed between Jim and herself and she didn’t want to let it go. This was a test from the Lord, she could recognize that. He wanted to grow deeper in her than He ever had before and Sara would have to trust Him.
It wasn’t a matter of having to forsake her love for Jim. It was okay for Sara to miss him and feel the hurt. She recognized all of that, but she needed to let the Lord grow even more in her life and trust His judgments. Even if that meant not seeing Jim again on this earth.
As Sara went over all of this in her mind, she prayed, and laid her heart before the Lord. They passed Sacramento and were headed up into the mountains. It was getting pretty light out and Sara was finding it more difficult to concentrate on her driving. She found a motel, paid for the room, and then carried Sam inside. There was a cafe next to the lobby and Sara got some pre-made sandwiches to take to the room. That way when Samantha woke up, she could eat and watch T.V. while Sara tried to sleep.
About 4:30 that afternoon they checked out of the motel, got something to eat at the cafe, and headed up the road. They charged her for two nights since the checkout time was eleven A.M. but right now with all of this going on, it really didn’t matter. Besides, this was putting them on the road at night again which meant less cars on the road.
About noon the next day they passed through Seattle.That afternoon they reached Bellingham. The first thing Sara wanted to do was to go to the ferry docks and get tickets. She should be able to catch the next boat out since the tourist traffic to Alaska was low this time of year.
At the ticket office, Sara found that the boat would not leave until the next day. She bought tickets for the Cherokee and a two person berth, all the way to Skagway. Then they left and found a motel to spend the night.
The trip up the inland passage was nice, and once they got past Ketchikan there was a lot to see. There had been a bear along the shoreline and deer in a couple of places. Eagles seemed to be everywhere, and the whales put on quite a show as they neared Juneau.
Once in Skagway, Sara drove directly to her sister’s house. Pat moved to Skagway with her husband Dan five years ago. Dan had been in retail sales for years. After having been on vacation to Alaska, Dan and Pat decided to buy a small gift shop that they operated from May until September. The rest of the year Pat worked on paintings and Dan made small sculptures that they sold in the shop. They also had ads in a few magazines. It kept them busy and they were making a good income.
Pat was not completely shocked to see them when they arrived. Earlier there was a phone call from some kind of official looking for them. Dan talked to them and had promised to call should Sara or Sam show up. After explaining as much as Sara knew, they tried to get some rest. Sara had been on guard since this all started, and this was the first time she felt a little bit safe.
After a couple of days, Pat introduced Sara to a close friend from church. Abbey and her husband, Jed, were in their sixties. They ran a bed and breakfast that was up on the side of the hill to the south of town overlooking the town and the water. Jed also took clients out on hunting or fishing trips in his boat. He would sometimes be gone for two weeks at a time.
During the conversation, Pat mentioned that Sara was looking for a place to stay and some kind of work. Pat and Dan’s house was real small and didn’t have room for all of them for long periods of time. Abbey said that she had been overworked for the last two or three years. It would be real nice to have help with all of the house work, making up rooms, doing the laundry, and cooking for the guests.
After talking it over with Jed, it was agreed that Sara and Samantha would move into Pat and Jed’s place. Sara could work for room and board. They would also pay her a cash bonus, dependent on the number of guests.
This situation was perfect as far as Sara was concerned. It shouldn't be too difficult to establish Samantha’s new identity. With the birth certificate they had made up for her she would be able to get her a social security number. It would be more difficult for Sara to apply for a new social security number and might raise too much suspicion. This way she wouldn't have to. What money she did get would be in cash. Abbey and Jed also agreed not to show her on tax records.
About six weeks after they had arrived, Pat flew down to California to see what she could find out. Stopping off at LAX, she rented a car and drove out by the base where Michael worked. It was Monday, so Michael was home when she called and asked him to meet her. Michael and Jamie told Pat all the things that had happened and what the officers had said about Jim’s death.
From there Pat drove to San Diego and retrieved the suitcase and backpack from the self storage. She didn’t go to the house in fear that it might still be under surveillance. After that, Pat flew back to Juneau and caught the ferry to Skagway.
Pat told Sara about what had happened to Jim. Sara had already suspected something like this had happened, but it didn’t diminish the hurt. She then had to explain to Samantha that her father was in Heaven with Jesus and that they would just have to wait until they went there in order to see him again.
